Personal life

Jeff Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Dorothy Dean (née Simpson) and actor Lloyd Bridges.[1] He has two older brothers, Beau and Garrett, and one younger sister, Lucinda. His brother, Garrett, died of sudden infant death syndrome on August 3, 1948. He shared a close relationship with his brother, actor Beau Bridges, who acted as a surrogate father during his earlier life when their real father was busy with work.[2] He is an uncle of Jordan Bridges. He married Susan Geston on June 5. He met Geston during the shooting of the movie Rancho Delux which was filmed on a ranch where Geston worked as a maid.[3] The couple have three daughters: Isabelle (b. 6 August 1981), Jessica Lily (b. 14 June 1983), and Hayley Roselouise (b. 17 October 1985). He is also a known marijuana user; in an interview, he admitted to ceasing smoking during filming of The Big Lebowski, but has not "permanently kicked the habit."[4]

Film career

Bridges's first major role was in the 1971 movie The Last Picture Show for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.
One of his better known roles was in the 1982 science fiction cult classic TRON, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for playing the alien in Starman. He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge. His role in Fearless is recognized by some critics to be one of his best performances. One critic dubbed it a masterpiece;[5] Pauline Kael wrote that he 'may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived'.[6] He also appeared as "The Dude" in the Coen Brothers' classic cult film The Big Lebowski.

In 2000, Bridges was nominated for his fourth Academy-Award for his role in The Contender. He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam movie Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He played the role of Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger in the 2008 Marvel motion picture, Iron Man.[7]

In July 2008, he was shown in the Comic Con teaser for TRON: Legacy, the sequel to TRON, leading fans to assume he would once again reprise the role of Flynn from the 1982 classic film.

In 2010, he won first (and only, to date) Academy Award. The award came in the Best Actor category for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film "Crazy Heart." The following year, he earned his sixth Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in 2010's "True Grit".

Other work

In his off time while on set, he has pursued other artistic ventures. Bridges had a burgeoning interest in photography while in high school, but began seriously taking photos while on the set of Starman at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen. He has published many of these photographs online and in print titled "Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges."[8][9][10][11][12]

Bridges is also a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in various films, such as K-PAX and The Door in the Floor (a short story-within-story by John Irving).

Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), a singular filmographic witness of the "unmaking" of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges has worked with Gilliam on The Fisher King and Tideland. Bridges also narrated the documentaries Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Raising the Mammoth (2000, TV), and The Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979, TV). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up.

Bridges has performed voice-over work as well: he was behind Hyundai 2007 "Think About It" ad campaign, and has done all of the Duracell ads in the "Trusted Everywhere" campaign (2006-current).

In the film The Contender, in which he co-starred, he recorded a version of Johnny Cash standard "Ring of Fire" that played over the beginning of the film. As of 2008, the song has not been released commercially outside of the film.